Happily Ever After Not
by Yumechou
Summary: Compilation of short, cheesy, or random AU setting fics of MikoRei, possibly OOC with hints of other pairings.
1. Fairy tale

Disclaimer: K anime is not mine. Or else, it will become pron anime instead, LOL. Yeah, be thankful it belongs to GoRa and GoHands.

Note: This chapter is an AU fic where there is no dead character, the Colorless King is still Miwa Ichigen and Mikoto and Reishi are married. Yeah, this is just a cheesy, cheap, short, romance fic that randomly comes into my mind because I feel bored. Don't waste your time reading this if you expect something serious, hahaha. And yeah, thank you VPN to let me login to this website. FINALLY, MUHAHAHA! And at last, this is M/M...so please don't start reading if you have anything against it or if you have weak stomach for it.

Yeah, I make this into a compilation since it's too bothersome to create new story for every short AU fics. This compilation will have lots of AU settings.

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Ever since he is young and world of books enchants him and surrounds him constantly wherever he is, he has zero chemistry toward fairy tale. Or to be exact, he despises it. Even his parents confide him that he should have more dreams as ridiculous as they can be, but he tells them off that fairy tales are stupid in a delicately polite manner and deceiving smile.

When he grows up, Reishi still has not changed his principal toward his genre preference, to his older brother's anxiety. His little brother shows no hint of interest in having one or two crushes throughout his puberty, same gender or not; it is absolutely within normal for him to worry about his baby brother. But Reishi shrugs him off. First of all, he never meets a princess in distress that needs his personal rescue in white horse. He also never feels a blazing passion in thought of someone. And that is how he leads his life right through his adolescence. He even wonders why his family seems to be bothered by his peaceful life, while he worries nothing about it. If anything, he will be worried about his older brother's academic performance, his mother's recklessness in doing house chores, and his father's monotonous work.

The second thing he contemns about fairy tale, it always ends with a happily ever after, that he believes, logically and realistically, nonexistent.

Ironically, when he is an adult, instead of a beautiful princess in her grace, he meets a rogue man with a pair of beautiful golden eyes and soft crimson mane that makes him experiencing something foreign in his world called love. Three years of denial, two years of flirting, one year of being convenient sex partners before they jump right away to a marriage. It takes him long enough to realize what they have now actually depends a lot on Mikoto's patience to wait for him and his inexperience with love is completely hilarious. Surprisingly, the Red King is willing to be dangled in a thin rope for stretching years.

The first time they exchange words of love is on the wedding, as bizarre as it may seem. He does not mind. He dislikes displaying affection as romance still sounds weird in his tongue and Mikoto is always a man of action. Sometimes he has no idea what is going on in Mikoto's head since he speaks less than a bird chirping (Reishi even questions how much vocabulary Mikoto possesses), but he loves puzzles and mysteries, and his husband is the biggest puzzle in his life to crack. It is up to him to read the meaning of every small gesture Mikoto makes. When he is displeased with Reishi being stubborn with his job, his eyebrow furrows close and a frown appears before Mikoto clicks his tongue in annoyance. When the Red King feels like being spoiled, he will keep poking on Reishi's ticklish side until the latter bursts to laughter in strangled voice and forgets whatever has occupied his mind previously. Thus he pets Mikoto's head on his lap as he tries to recall what he has been planning to do before.

He tries to believe it once, that maybe a fairy tale can really happen in reality, no matter how absurd it sounds. He still vividly remembers that day, the day he foolishly attempts to trust his instinct and an illusion called 'happily ever after' and now here he is, pondering if he is making a right decision to be wed to a man.

And the one who is supposed to be his husband, is in front of him, lazing around on the cozy sofa in front of the TV monitor without care of the world, with several cans of beer and coffee littered around near him. He pays no heed toward what Mikoto has been drinking of late. He still cannot find a valid answer as to why his love suddenly develops a habit to drink coffee cans, but today his brain is officially fried and he wants to think about nothing but sleep.

As a King and a Captain of Scepter 4, it is expected of him not to show weakness, and to work 24/7 if required. Blessed with bright mind and talented commanders, the blue-haired captain is always able to complete his job without having to stay overnight in most of cases. However, emergency sometimes comes up in the worst time and Reishi working overtime is not entirely uncommon. But if he has to be honest, constant emergency calls are killing him. (He gets a call one night with a dick stuck up in his ass and certain, demanding king is hovering on top of him with focused expression and a tint of blush. Mikoto does not cooperate with him, of course, pinning him down on the bed as long as he can and prolonging his thrusts so to annoy Reishi and thus he is beyond late for the call to his dismay. He even gains this dirty, knowing look from his rude, second commander and stoic face from his beautiful lieutenant, trying to hide her amusement. It is not difficult for them to put the pieces together and knows the exact reason for him being late. Before a simple silver band attached to his ring finger, negligence is never on his book.)

"Mikoto, I told you to put things where it belongs and throws your own trash." Reishi growls as he pinches his forehead together, trying to suppress a scream or a shout. "Even a kid can do better than you." He has just returned home from an emergency in the middle of the night, caused by a stray strain, and being elusive as he is, the Blue King has no other choice but to humor him and get involved in cat and mouse game up until morning. Without able to catch up with sleep, he continues on with his daily tasks and meetings up until late night. It is understatement to say that he is tired and lack of sleep worsens his headache. As much as he wants to throw himself on the bed and shut the world out, Reishi cannot overlook chaotic environment in his living quarter. Before he realizes it, he already walks in between Mikoto and his TV, picking up the rubbish mindlessly and strolls to nearest bin in the kitchen. Since when he is getting used to be a housewife?

The red head simply sits up on the comfortable sofa to stare at his back with his head propped on his hand and rewards him with a smile, "Welcome home. Took you long enough."

Reishi glances back through his shoulder to throw an annoyed look at him and goes to their bedroom as he loosens his cravat in slow manner to take off his stifling uniform. "Yeah, something comes up."

He is about to unbutton his white shirt when suddenly a pair of hand snakes on his sides and pulls him back against the intruder's chest. Reishi suppresses a chuckle and puts his hands on the arms encircling his chest as he bends and cranes his neck to get a better look on Mikoto. "Miss me?"

The latter does not answer but leaving a fleeting kiss on his lower lip and butterfly kisses on his porcelain nape, sucking and licking the skin gently until he leaves burning red marks. Reishi sighs contentedly, letting himself being immersed in Mikoto's affection. In contrary to his facade, his huge lion is quite cuddly, reserved for the ones he holds close in his heart. When he starts to relax in Mikoto's embrace, the red head man twirls him in his arms to face him and hooks his feet on Reishi's, and in consequence, Reishi nearly squeaks shamelessly as he loses his balance and falls on the bed beside the mahogany wardrobe.

"Mikoto! I told you not to-!" Before he can finish his line, Mikoto has imprisoned him with his arms on both sides of his head, a smirk on his face and his body towering on top of him. Oh God, his eyes sparkles like glittering stars, shining like a child getting his candy. The latter lowers down his head slowly, asking for permission to kiss him on the lips. Knowing Mikoto for years, a kiss never ends innocently as a kiss, and his eyes are terribly bleary and tired, so he crooks his head to avoid the kiss and looks up at him sternly. "Mikoto, I'm tired. And I need sleep."

"It's just a kiss." Reishi tries his best not to laugh, since as emotionless as Mikoto sounds, his words are as if he is pouting.

The blue head puts his hands on Mikoto's chest, keeping somewhat safe distance between them, but his violet eyes never waver or leave the golden ones as he speaks in a chiding voice. "The last time you said that, we ended up staying awake until dawn and I couldn't concentrate on my work for a whole day, trying not to fall asleep or get caught stifling a yawn."

"Then you should take a day off." Mikoto has not given up; he lowers his head again and instinctively Reishi puts his right palm on his husband's lips to push him away. The leader of HOMRA takes the advantage to lick his palm playfully, grinning as he hears a sigh escapes from his beloved blue head's cherry lips.

His hand trembles a bit as he starts to feel sensitive and a tiny spark of desire starts to swell inside him, but Reishi still cannot gather enough passion to continue on since another wave of exhaustion engulfs him. "A King never has a day off. And so is public officer." He begins to trail off, and his speech slurs a bit as his brain gets cloudy. Taking pity on him, Mikoto finally decides to stop teasing but kissing him gently on Reishi's eyelids, tainted with black circles around his eyes.

The crimson head king waits tolerantly until Reishi's chest steadily rises and falls and his breaths even out before he quietly pulls back. The bed sprung back a bit as his weight leaves it, but before he can make a step away from the bed, he feels a soft tug on the hem of his shirt. As he stares back, a hand weakly takes a hold of his shirt and his drifting husband smiles softly at him; a rare, genuine smile that he almost never shows unless he is too tired like this time to care about his dignity, and whispers like an evening breeze. "Stay. It's cold."

Mikoto contemplates of replying him with a scoff for taking him as a bed warmer, but he decides not to when he sees that his beautiful lover has once again drifted off and his hand which effectively stops him before, falling unceremoniously out of the bed.

He sighs and whirls around to turn off the lamp, which is usually done by Reishi when they are getting ready to sleep since he does not care with or without light when he sleeps while the latter prefers dark (he gives him a long lecture about health and the benefit of sleeping in the dark, but Mikoto never really listens and always stops him in the middle of speech with a long kiss so Reishi will just use his mouth for better purpose). Mikoto moves to his side of bed and pulls away the cover as he lies down on the soft bed. It does not take long before his Blue King stirs and impulsively seeks warmth in his sleep and put his hands around Mikoto's waist as he snuggles closer.

Mikoto stifles a chuckle so not to bother the sleepy lover in his arms; instead he puts his chin on top of his husband's head and stares at the empty darkness. How should he sleep now that his blood is poisoned by overdose caffeine as he waits for his Blue King to return from work? Reishi seems not to realize that he has been waiting for him since last night the young captain left the bed for the emergency call with his mind in haze and Mikoto certainly has no obligation to reveal him that information. (If he does, it will lead to another dispute with his husband commanding Mikoto not to wait for him and to mind his own business while Mikoto will talk back at him to let him do whatever he wants.) God bless the Blue King, tomorrow for certain, there will be no activity within HOMRA to bother his work since Mikoto will spend most of his time napping and none of his Clansmen is allowed to bother his precious nap time.

Their fairy tale might not be a happily ever after as their differences will always cause spark of conflicts, but they certainly will not ask for better story.

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*takes cover under the table* Forgive me! Don't hit me for writing OOC! Just...pretend you don't read anything above.


	2. Wonderland

Disclaimer: K anime always belongs to GoRa and GoHands. At least until the day I steal it *_* Oh okay, I would never be able to steal it, forget it...*sob*

Note: So this idea came up when K!AliceinWonderland radio drama is released (until now, I still haven't heard it though because there is no translation, so...) and somewhat the concept was forgotten until recently I accidentally found it again, hahaha...Since this is AU compilation, I just insert this to save me from trouble of releasing new story. :D Like usual, MikoRei, with great warning of being OOC. *lurks back to the corner* Forgive my errors in grammatical and vocabulary aspects. I'm still trying to work on my English writing.

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"There is a common courtesy in courting someone with less complicated methods," The Mad Hatter pauses for a second before he emphasizes his next words, "Your Majesty."

Reishi takes off his hat and makes a short bow before his King elegantly, though a scornful look is apparent on his face. He is furious and he absolutely feels no obligation to entertain the Red King with his fake, business smile.

"Shall we proceed and hasten this hearing?" The blue-haired hatter puts his simple, black satin hat back to his head and pulls out a golden pocket watch from a pocket on his raven-colored vest to observe the time. "I have an evening tea party to attend."

Mikoto stares back at his defiant subject with an amused smirk as he sits on his throne which is several stairs up above the Mad Hatter. "Worry not, Munakata." The hatter flinches as he hears his King brazenly calls for his name. It is a norm in Wonderland for strangers or friends to call a person's title instead of his name. A name is reserved to lovers or families as the tradition takes a deep root in the society. But the Red King apparently does not concern about custom that he has preposterously spoken hatter's name despite nothing goes on between them but a King and his subject.

Or at least, it is how it looks from the outside. Heck, it does not take a genius to realize that his King has been flirting on him.

"I will certainly accommodate your need to hold your evening tea party here when time strikes at three." A smirk never leaves his king's lips and Reishi has this terrible urge to wipe that expression with a punch. It seems that the Red King has once again taken a hold of him to keep him in the Heart Palace, and away from his own hatter shop. He has intentionally built a shop in the middle of the forest, secluded away from the buzzing city and the palace, just to evade this one man that currently sits in front of him. For a year, he is left alone in peace as he tells no one of his address or his location so to hide himself. Alas, Mikoto is such a persistent man when he has set his mind and Lady Luck always sides with him. In the following years, he constantly receives an official royal letter with various reasons to make him come to the Palace after his precise location has been discovered.

Reishi always ignores the ball invitations, half-heartedly wishing that his King will finally forget about him and leave him alone if he never replies to any of his summons. When he never answers to them, the Red King increases the stakes by summoning him to the court instead and Reishi is still not be able to come up with anything to stop this irrational game.

This time is the fifth time in a row this week for him being summoned to the palace as the prime suspect of a crime he has no clue at all. It is not necessary for him to solve the mystery though, because the blue-head realizes perfectly that these accusations are simply a brash move for Mikoto to cover his motive. The last time he is being called in, he is charged with an offense of stealing Red King's strawberry shortcake. He recalls the time his violet eyes reach the closing line of the Royal Letter and he is so lost and torn whether he should laugh at the absurdity, or wail at his ill-fated destiny for being acquainted to a selfish, immature King, no less. There is no evidence to support the accusation (considering the distance between his house and Palace, it is more than adequate alibi for him from being found guilty) and usually the court ends in a flash. But he is still obliged to obey the King and attend the trial and the trip is quite time-consuming.

Nevertheless, once his feet enters the castle courtyard, it equals him staying overnight in the Palace since Mikoto will ALWAYS intervene from him leaving. On the other hand, he still has to complete all of his hat orders that have piled up and neglected in his shop with perpetual arrival of the letters sealed in red blotch ink stamp. Reishi has once tried to make his work as an excuse to postpone the court. However, on the next day morning, a large group of card army and horse carriages park in front of his house and they start to stuff all of his tools inside the carriages, ignoring his indignant objection under the order of the Red King. Mikoto does not even spare him a minute to demand justice; he simply says with his usual smirk, "If your work prevents you from coming to the court, you may as well move to the Palace. There are more cases revolving around you in the future, I'm sure." Afterward, he never attempts anything to delay the trial, in fear that his house will be relocated beside the castle if he refuses.

However, slowly, but surely, his workplace starts to move to a particular guest chamber in the castle, and he has stayed longer in the palace compared to his old house and he still has no power to have a say in this matter. In the Wonderland, the Red King is absolute and his orders are the law. Though to some extent, he can defy the orders, but being an inhabitant means he is also enforced to follow the rules of Wonderland and thus, if Mikoto commands him to marry him, Reishi has no choice but to obey his words, unless he attempts to desert the Wonderland or commit suicide (which he will avoid at all cost).

The hatter shudders at the thought. He has known the King for a long time and Mikoto is not a kind of man who will use his authority to make someone his, regardless of his feeling. But he cannot be sure of what Mikoto is capable of when he is tired of constant rejections.

A loud, familiar voice snaps him back to reality as the Knaves of Heart, Izumo announces, "In the name of the Royal Heart King, I hereby open the court with the prime suspect being accused of stealing the Royal Crown."

Without missing a heartbeat, Reishi begins with his usual reasoning to speed up with the hearing. After all, these are just acts to force him to go to the palace. Even he speaks nothing, he will still be found not guilty. "During that time, I am in the middle of meeting up with a customer. She can be a witness, if Your Majesty requires further testimony."

Izumo glances at his King, who looks quite entertained with the presence of Mad Hatter and sighs. The blond has figured out that Mikoto has been staging up false courts in order to see a certain navy-haired man and without doubt, he believes that Reishi has realized this since long time ago. The first time they summons the Mad Hatter to the court, he glares with blazing fury that frightens him. But these days, an apparent, resigned look is always on the hatter's face, telling them that he wants nothing but these pointless courts and his King's entertainment to be over with.

On the first court, the Mad Hatter declares that he is not the Red King's toy to play with and thus he leaves the court unceremoniously by breaking through the window glass and lands from second floor gracefully unscathed, to Izumo's amazement. Without looking back, he stomps away back to the forest. However, instead of faltering, Mikoto is obviously quite pleased with such boldness, and he calls the Mad Hatter to the court more often than a boy asking a girl out of date.

The Red King's awful hobby is giving him a headache. Tons of trivial cases equal mountains of paper stacks in his office to be signed and Izumo are exhausted with all these paper works, involving the Mad Hatter and the Heart King. How he wishes that they just get together and spare him the suffering consequences of Mikoto's peculiar way of flirting.

Izumo sighs again as he leads the trial in fast pace. It is clear as the day that Mikoto is interested in Mad Hatter. However, as for the latter, The Knaves is not certain. Sometimes he can see a glint of interest in those chilling amethyst orbs when Mad Hatter stares at the Red King, but most of the time, the hatter looks between frustration to outrage, but never loathing.

"To conclude the trial, the Royal Heart Kingdom declares that the Mad Hatter is found - not guilty!" The Knaves of Heart reads the royal scroll hurriedly without taking a breath in between of his lines. He wants this trial to be over as much as the Mad Hatter does, especially with the suspect glaring at him murderously whenever he delays his speech or occasionally stops to take a breath.

Reishi fixes his eyeglasses and smoothes his pitch black coat sophisticatedly before he swiftly bows before the Heart King and takes his cue to make a hasty run when Mikoto is about to open his mouth. "Good day, to you, Your Majesty. Now, if you will excuse me…" He strides with long steps, quickly making his way to the exit grand door of the court. He has to hurry while keeping up an appearance before Mikoto even has a chance to think up a reason to keep him here (or else it will be too obvious that he is avoiding the King and it will only motivate the Heart King further to chase him and interrogate his reason for eluding him).

"_Halt, Mad Hatter_." His voice is calm but it echoes inside the court room stridently. Reishi wonders if it is just his illusion, but he feels like hearing a roar of a lion behind him and it successfully stops him before he can make it past the door. He really despises being an inhabitant and his duty to abide by every whim of his King. Now he is too late to make his escape and probably Reishi will have to stay the night again in the Heart Kingdom.

Mikoto leaves his throne furnished in gold and rubies, and walks down the short flight of stairs and the long red carpet on the marble floor like a lazy, graceful cat until he stands only several meters away from the hatter. Reishi whirls around from the exit and snorts with displeasure before he kneels before his King politely with a head down to the floor, "What does Your Majesty wish to ask from this humble existence?"

Reishi does not expect for the Red King to copy him and kneel before him, thus they are on the same eye level. The king puts his hand under Reishi's chin and lifts it up to make the hatter looking straight into Mikoto's eyes. Mikoto smirks and nearly drowns him in the depth of those golden eyes as the king observes him. Mad Hatter starts to feel lightheaded when the King's face comes closer to his.

"As you have been informed, the royal crown is now lost." Mikoto starts to talk under his breath and Reishi struggles not to slip up a hint of blush. "I order you, as the most acknowledged, talented hatter in the Wonderland, to design and present the new Royal Crown for the Heart Kingdom."

The sapphire-head considers his opt to refuse flatly on Mikoto's face for his personal retribution and for his professional reason which he has still impending orders to be completed. But being honored with an opportunity and challenge to create the best crown for generations in the Kingdom tempts him. Moreover, it does not seem like Mikoto will accept any refusal since he blatantly tells him that it is an order.

"As you wish, Your Majesty, under a certain price." Reishi finally says.

Mikoto pulls back a little to get a better look at his face. "Name it."

"I need to concentrate on my work and thus please provide me tranquility in the forest for several days." Mad Hatter speaks with sugary-coated sarcasm and looks up with a smile, but it does not fool Mikoto. He can see a faint wicked glint behind those violet eyes. If he wants to play dirty, Mikoto will follow his game. Munakata will regret the moment he tries to bargain with the absolute ruler of Wonderland.

The Red King gently tugs on Reishi's cobalt-colored side bangs as he plays with those soft strands between his fingers and their lips almost touch each other if one of them dares to cross the line. He whispers with an ominous look and sour smile, "Rejected, Munakata."

As quickly as he comes close to the hatter, Mikoto pulls back and whirls around to step away from his love interest and makes his way back to the throne. He regally sits back on the golden chair and a determined look is apparent on his face. "Your workshop has been relocated to the East Wing of the Palace. I'm certain that you have gotten familiar with the place, Munakata. I inquire you to put your best crafting skill to produce the best-quality of a crown. I trust that a professional will not let his inspiration to be influenced by personal feeling, does it?"

The Mad Hatter is flabbergasted, if not enraged. Surely there is a law statement about privacy intrusion or violation of human rights! He clenches his teeth, seething at Mikoto's tyranny. He has known this man for years, and this is the first time for the Red King for ignoring his right and even contemning his professionalism. But he keeps on a stoic mask and forges a false smile and leaves the court room without another word but suffocating atmosphere hanging in the air.

* * *

_Snip_.

"Such. A. Prick!"

_Snip_.

Reishi pauses for a moment as he sees a pile of torn hats in his work table being shredded and tortured to pieces in the moment of blind fury with a silver, sharp scissor in his hand. Feeling guilty for misdirecting his anger towards the innocent hats, he puts down his tool on the table and rests his forehead against the cool, wooden table.

The half moon hangs high on pitch black sky embellished by blinking stars, and its soft light fills the room through the glass windows in his temporary workshop. He has intentionally missed the evening tea party, which Mikoto has prepared specifically for him, to show him that he is indeed angry at that insolent king and Reishi is not about to forgive him just yet. It is totally out of his character to miss out such an important routine, but if it means he can have a peaceful moment not to see a certain crimson-head king, he will gladly bend his personal rules.

Most of his hat collections and tools have been removed to this new workshop. To be honest, he is actually quite pleased of the workshop gifted by Mikoto. It is spacious and has better air circulation being in the top floor of the tower, compared to his small workshop in the forest. The East Wing is usually barren of occupants as well, thus he can focus well on his crafting. Furthermore, knowing that he dislikes whenever his tools are not in their respective places, the Red King has attentively relocated his property precisely like in his previous place. If he was not quite furious at Mikoto right now, he would be flattered for king's concern.

The piles of hats adorned by various colors of peacock feathers and strip ribbons on top of his desk and floor surround him like high walls around him, covering his presence in the middle of the room. The smell of paint and artificial flowers calm him down as he shuts close his eyes and takes a short break. In the silence, his mind drifts back to a certain Red King that always occupies his mind whenever he does not concentrate on something else or rack his brain to make a list of reasons to avoid Suoh Mikoto.

It is not as if he eludes the Heart King in the name of hatred. In contrary, he understands well that Mikoto is quite attractive in his eyes and his charisma is too alluring to overlook and he is being completely mesmerized by Mikoto's presence. Years ago before his king is entitled to the throne, he believes that the young prince holds no romantic interest toward him, thus he plays with the fire, coquet with prospective king since he finds that the young prince is quite adorable when he blushes with Reishi's mischievous advances. But the young king eventually leaves the nest and his innocent adolescence period, and it might be his karma, because Mikoto begins to pay him back by showering him with affection two fold than he has previously given.

Being romantically involved with the absolute ruler of your country is not a good move. His long expedition in love gives him confidence in the matter of relationship. But it is all useless when the golden-eyes king stood before him, staring straight into his eyes. Reishi is still not certain if Mikoto is simply having his retribution for teasing him during those puberty years or if his king just attempts to see if he can claim Reishi, who is well-known as an elusive hatter, his. However, when he vaguely senses that Mikoto's feeling starts to meet his, he can feel the heat of engulfing fire and foresee the damage he will receive along with such extreme passionate feeling. And that is how they begin their cat-and-mouse game. He purposely stays under profile, giving time for the crowned king to cool down by keeping distance between them, but his plan backfires. Instead of chilling down, Mikoto blazes even brighter, burning everything into ashes until nothing remains and leaves nothing for Reishi to take cover.

Mad Hatter is always the best in strategy and puzzles, but he cannot win against a person who uses brute force to demolish the walls standing in front of him. His current situation is no different. He has been triumphant in steering clear of Mikoto so far, but eventually he will hit a dead end, and before he can make a turn back, his prey is already keeping up with him. Today, he can see it as clear as the day that Mikoto is running out of patience. The Red King has resorted to play dirty to keep him here and Reishi is tired of constant running.

"Munakata." The door suddenly cracks open, followed by a soft voice ringing inside the room, startling him. He does not even hear footsteps and there is only silence on the hallway until seconds ago. The hatter involuntarily holds his breath and stays hidden behind the towers of his creations, wondering why he has to go to such extent because of one man. He knows that it is futile for him to play hide-and-seek in this confined workshop, yet Reishi is not ready to face the one causing his biggest dilemma in his life.

He yelps in surprise when abruptly the piling hats in front of him are being tossed away to the floor carelessly and Mikoto slams his hands on the table with an annoyed look. Reishi quickly collects himself and crosses his arms in front of his chest with his violet eyes narrows dangerously. "What do you want?"

"Finally you drop that formal talking." Mikoto smiles genuinely at him with a weak blush to his cheeks. Mad Hatter is astonished in how honest his king can be, careless of what people might think about him. His obliviously childlike grin is exactly the reason why Reishi cannot stay angry at him longer than a day. The blue-haired hatter sighs in defeat and gestures for Mikoto to take a seat across the table.

"I'm angry at you." Reishi admits quietly while the latter takes a seat in front of him, and the crimson-haired king does not even cringe at his sudden statement. "Lately you are being assertive. Why?"

Mikoto leans forward and grabs the blue-head's hand tightly on the table before he can pull away. "I will answer you if you tell me why you are avoiding me." He can feel a tiny flinch from the white hand in his grasp, though those violet eyes reveal nothing. "Years, Munakata. You start this game yourself, and when I finally come around, you are running away. Is this how you play games? After striking a streak of wins, you stop in the middle when you are about to lose?"

"How do you know whether I'm going to lose or not?" The hatter asks evenly as he gently tugs away his constrained hand, but his king clutches on him tightly, so much it begins to hurt. He is certain that there will be purplish red bruise around his right wrist tomorrow.

"Oh I don't know," Mikoto confidently declares, with a glint of mischief is in his sparkling eyes. "That's why I'm going to confirm it."

"Wha-?"

Suddenly he is being yanked forward from his seat and then soft lips lock into his, taking his breath away in surprise. Reishi attempts to pull back a little to take breaths and maybe calm his galloping heartbeats, but Mikoto's left hand swiftly grabs behind his nape and draws him closer to his face. Their shared kiss is messy with the hatter flailing around to escape the kiss and catch up with his need for oxygen. The Red King pulls back a little to give some space between them to help Mad Hatter with his frantic pants, but he slams his mouth again into Reishi's before the latter has a chance to slip away from his clutch.

He stops kissing his beautiful hatter when he tastes a tang of blood and feels a stab of pain on his lips. Mikoto rubs his lips with the back of his right hand and watches that there is a smear of blood on it. Nevertheless, instead of being furious, he finds Reishi's brutal response quite amusing. On the other hand, Mad Hatter gasps like dying fish without water back on his seat and his face flushes crimson up to his ears and a blemish of blood smeared on his lips.

Mikoto cannot help himself not to laugh at Mad Hatter's defenseless stance and he walks around the table to hinder the latter from going anywhere before they can finish their conversation. He puts his hands on the handles of the chair, purposely blocking Reishi's only exit. Nevertheless, when he gets a closer look on the one he is enamored with, it seems that it is unnecessary for him to guard the Mad Hatter anymore from leaving. The violet-eyed man slouches on his chair, inhaling deeply before he sighs and closes his eyes. Mikoto could not resist not asking though, "Giving it up, Munakata?"

Reishi cracks open an eye at him, peering quietly as he mutters under his breath. "What if I have not?"

The Red King does not budge from his current position, shrugging from the question. "Well, I don't mind to trap you here like this for a whole night."

"And that's why I need you to stop." Mad Hatter pauses for a second before he averts his vision, trying to find something interesting to look at on the ceiling, anything other than those glowing golden eyes. "We need to talk."

"If you really think so," Mikoto hovers above him and his head blocks the lamp light to make Reishi refocus his attention at his night visitor. "Look at me when you talk to me."

The blue-haired hatter remains still for a while, hollowly stares at him. The Heart King even cocks his head, wondering what has been swirling inside his love's pretty head or what he is trying to say to him. He is prepared to spend the whole night goading an answer out of Reishi, if necessary. Five minutes of waiting is nothing if they can at last reach an understanding; the night is still young after all. But Reishi never ceases to surprise him.

"I love you." He softly proclaims, after a stretching silence hung between them. "But I can't."

"Why not?" The king knows that he should not keep his hope high prematurely, but he cannot deny feeling elated at the hatter's confession. He has longed to hear those words ever since he decides to be with Mad Hatter and him to be his. Five years of agonizing waiting are finally paid off.

Reishi defensively crosses his arms in front of him; however he does not let his eyes wander from Mikoto's large orbs. "We all have a role here to fulfill in Wonderland, Your Majesty." The hatter feels as if those words are actually intended for him as a reminder of his position.

Mikoto growls at his title, "Stop calling me that. When we are alone, there are only us." Mad Hatter never fails to call his title, instead of his name when they are no longer sweethearts and every time he does that, the king can sense his growing exasperation at Reishi's effort to maintain a wide cliff between them.

"If we are truly destined to be together, don't you think that I should be born as the Heart Queen or maybe, you should not be a King?" His violet eyes stare with so much resolve that they sting Mikoto's heart. "But we aren't. Somewhere, a candidate for Heart Queen probably exists and you just have not met her yet. I have to keep the role as a Mad Hatter."

Mikoto snaps promptly at his reasoning with a sharp glare, "Or maybe you are the one, but you just don't realize it because you are too busy denying that you might be destined to have two roles."

"You just conveniently assume that for your own advantage," Reishi lets out a small chuckle before he rewards his king's perseverance with a smile, "...Suoh." It sounds pleasant to his ear to be able to speak that name. "How do you suggest for a Mad Hatter to also take the role of Heart Queen? Mad Hatter is not supposed to live in the castle."

Mikoto rolls his eyes at his love and grabs his shoulders tightly. "Do me a favor for once, Munakata, be flexible. There is no rule saying that a Mad Hatter is not allowed to be the Red Queen. And I don't give a shit about rules; only you do."

The cobalt-haired man hummed lightly in agreement, "Fair enough."

After a long, comfortable silence dawns on them, the Heart King carefully breaks the peace as he puts his forehead against Reishi's. "So are you done?" The latter laughs a little before he snakes his arms around Mikoto's neck and pulls him close, letting his king to sit on his lap. He just hopes the chair will be able to put up with their weights. "Playing games with you? Never." He cranes his neck to meet his lips with Mikoto's and the Red King happily obliges him while their hands begin to stray and explore the skin under the shirts.

* * *

"_Oh. My. God_." Izumo nearly bursts to tears when he witnesses his king, taking a stroll in the secret rose garden while clasping his hand on a certain hatter's hand from the window of his office on third floor when the clock strikes three at noon.

"What?" Totsuka cocks his head questioningly as he brings another pile of official letters to the Knaves of Heart's desk.

"Finally! If they take another month to get together, I will officially request for job transfer." Izumo abandons his paper works to spy on the lovebirds, confirming his eyes if they are truly in relationship now. Totsuka gleefully joins him to watch their new entertainment by the window before adding, "Well, if they get into a love quarrel, I think your job will multiply by twofold, Knaves of Heart."

The color is drained from Izumo's face and he goes stiff at sudden realization, but Totsuka only laughs at him without sympathy and keeps on watching his king. "But we still have a happy ending for now. Let's just not worry of what has not come. Whatever will be, will be."

* * *

Hehehe, another two random chapters are nearly done, so if you are terrified with OOC or bored with all these randomness, please don't click next chapters for your health. Really. If you don't mind reading pointless, cheesy, OOC AU MikoRei, please stay tuned and leave review if you have little bit time to spare. :D

Last but not least, thanks for the review, **Maizy**! I'm glad I have someone who won't stone me for writing these AU. Anyway, dear, yeah I'm still waiting for new chapter of your 'When we ruled the world'~ Please, I beg you! Update soon?


	3. Morning Alarm

Disclaimer: K anime is not mine. Case Closed.

Note: This takes place on the same AU setting for chapter 1 which Blue and Red King are married. :D 

* * *

The blaring alarm startles him, yet his body feels sluggish to move even an inch, and he is contently warm that he does not want to leave his comfortable zone yet. The ringing sound without doubt annoys him, but he reaches for his pillow to cover his ears and tunes it out, while snuggling closer to the source of his warmth. He is about to drift back to dreamless sleep when something pokes his side. _Persistently_.

"Oi…Reishi. Turn that damn thing off." A husky voice is just before his sensitive ear, making him blush a little and effectively waking him up. Mikoto stifles a yawn while he is still poking his husband with his finger. "Why do you set it so early anyway? Fuck…" He trails off a bit before he buries his face on the pillow and a soft snore follows, telling the blue-haired one that his companion has gone back to sleep.

Reishi frowns at his love grudgingly before he reaches out the alarm and sets it off vehemently. He takes several seconds to daze in the blinding darkness to blink his bleariness away before he reaches for his eyeglasses on the lamp table nearby. Between slit of closed curtains, he could make out that the sky is still dark with moon hangs low near the horizon. If he really wants to, he still has time for a fleeting sleep before he has to get ready for work. Nevertheless, even with muddled mind, his psychological state involuntarily commands him to start early now that he is awake.

He swings his feet out of the bed cover and shudders promptly when his skin is completely exposed to the chill of morning air. The Blue King sighs with discontent; his body temperature is naturally low to begin with that he often finds the morning chill during the daybreak unbearable. After his body is fairly adjusting with the temperature, Reishi is about to rise and leave the bed when an arm suddenly snakes around his waist, taking a firm hold of him.

His violet eyes wander down to scowl at his sneaky husband half-heartedly. "What?"

"I told you to turn that damn alarm off, not to get up. It's 5 am, get in." Mikoto flips up the cover with sleepy eyes, as if commanding him to slip back under the safety of cover from cold. Reishi admits that the offer is quite tempting, but his professionally-trained discipline side refuses to oblige himself with pleasure. The Blue King answers him with a smile and rewards him with a peck on Mikoto's cheek, "It's fine, you go to sleep. I'll make coffee."

Usually Mikoto only groans in response and goes back to sleep until the smell of coffee lingers strongly in the air and Reishi is about to leave to his office. Kusanagi once spills the bean on him on their wedding day that before they live together, the Red King often sleeps until noon is approaching close. Thus, if Mikoto makes an effort to be at least awake before Reishi leaves for work, it is in fact a significant improvement. It flatters the Blue King for certain.

But there are days when the Red King is simply being unpredictable, depending on his mood, such as today. Reishi attempts to pry open the constraining arm and break free to leave the bedroom, but Mikoto just would not budge. The harder he pushes the arm away, the stronger Mikoto tugs and constricts him. The blue-haired captain is barely awake that he is not in the mood of playing tug of war games, thus he flops back on the bed and turns around toward the latter with stern face.

"Suoh Mikoto," Reishi glowers at him, wishing that a look can knock a certain crimson-head king unconscious. "Let. Me. Go."

Instead of complying to his wish, Mikoto props his head on his hand, grinning from ear to ear, as he lies on his side with his right arm remains around Reishi's waist and the Blue King despairs why this man can be gorgeous in his eyes with such messy bad hair and half-lidded eyes. His sight must have been cursed or something. "If you don't go back to bed this minute, Munakata Reishi, mark my word that today will not be peaceful for Scepter 4."

The Blue King widens his eyes in surprise and frowns at his husband, "Are you…_correct me if I am wrong_; blackmailing me?"

It does not take another thought for the amber-eyed king to quickly reply, "Yes, I am." In contrary to his words, Mikoto appears to be quite unperturbed and docile that makes the Blue King wondering if the man is just teasing him or if he is being completely serious to his words. Nevertheless, this Red King always sticks to his words and promises and that worries Reishi with current predicament. They have developed something like unwritten peace treaty between Scepter 4 and HOMRA along with their marriage and it has been peaceful for Scepter 4 most of the time (if the mission does not include Yata and Fushimi at the same place). Does this mean that Mikoto will purposely create troubles to increase his workload?

"If you do that, mark my words, I will throw you out of this bedroom for a week."

"Doesn't matter. Can sleep on the couch." Mikoto grins wider. "But you would have to sleep without bed warmer for a week."

Reishi gives him a scandalized look, suppressing a scowl. While the fourth king is calculating the loss and benefit of his options inside his mind, Mikoto raises an eyebrow at him and replies the latter with sceptical stare. He sighs in resignation and waits long-sufferingly until Reishi is done racking his brain over something trivial. As much as he loves this man, Mikoto still has a difficult time to understand why his Blue King has to make his own life complicated.

Deciding that it is not worth wasting his time to bicker with Mikoto at such hour and he prefers to have a calm day at work so he and his Clansmen can have a relaxing lunch break, Reishi quietly slips back under the cover, with an evident unwilling look on his face. Those violet eyes purposely avoids looking at his amber ones, trying to keep his pride by hinting off that he is not being submissive but simply being mature. Mikoto laughs a little but he indulges the Blue King by saying nothing. He leisurely trails Reishi's smooth skin with his hands until the latter indistinctly shivers with colored cheeks and draws him close to his embrace.

"Wait, I need to reset the alarm…" The blue-haired man protests in his arms, thrashing a bit to break free from Mikoto's restraining arms.

"Forget the damn clock." The amber eyed king starts grumbling as he pulls the cover over them up above their head. "You always wake up before it rings anyway."

Reishi ponders a bit, taking Mikoto's words to his consideration before he finally agrees and curls up beside Mikoto, basking himself in the latter's body warmth to his heart content. He hums happily, feeling comfortable and safe from the biting-cold morning air. Soon fatigue creeps back in and sleep finds him in the matter of minutes as he listens to Mikoto's steady heartbeat. 

* * *

A flight of butterfly kisses and bites nipping on his neck alerts him gently like a morning sun. His eyes blearily blink in lazy manner before he stifles a yawn and little stretch on his muscles. The usual warmth radiating from the other side of the bed is always quite comfortable that it is almost a pity to leave it, but his eyes are more than awake by now to stay under the blanket. He can feel a smile on the back of his neck when he frowns at the heaviness of an arm encircling on his chest.

Reishi rolls in the embrace and faces at his unexpected morning alarm wearing his usual cheeky smile. He just cannot resist not being cynical at the whole situation that he blurts out his mind. "Well, you are the last thing I expect to wake me up actually."

Mikoto says nothing, but he glowers a little in protest and pulls back his arm to release his lover. Feeling guilty already for his words, the blue-haired man cranes his neck and kisses back on Mikoto's forehead and lips. He nearly chuckles when Mikoto mutters under his breath, almost begrudgingly. "_Your welcome_. By the way, I don't mind keeping you here, but at this rate, you will be late for sure." He yawns and buries his face on the pillow, getting ready to sleep back in.

Reishi quickly glances at the alarm clock on the bedside table before he gasps loudly and scrambles out of the bed, nearly slipping on the bed sheet if not for his well-trained reflexes as he rushes his way to the bathroom. Before long, the sound of door slamming and shower running breaks the peaceful morning. The clock ticks almost too loudly for Mikoto as it points at seven thirty before he shuts his eyes close again to the world as he lies on his stomach.

Sleep almost claims him when he catches the familiar, intoxicating fragrant coming from his back. From the periphery of his vision, he could make a slender, ivory hand toys with his short, messy hair lovingly. Reishi nuzzles his nose on Mikoto's crimson bed hair and kisses him lightly on the back of his head as he whispers quietly to the red-head's ear. "Mikoto, I'm leaving. You will probably skip the breakfast like usual and eat lunch at HOMRA, so I only brew the coffee."

Mikoto swiftly steals a glance at the alarm clock and averts his golden eyes to meet the amethyst ones. He observes the blue-haired man who is half-hovering on top of him while sitting on the edge of the bed. His husband is already in his full attire for work, not forgetting his favorite sword, clasped on the belt. It amazes him that in thirty minutes, his husband appears to be quite meticulous for a quick primping and to top it up, he even has finished making breakfast and cleaned dishes. Sometimes he wonders if Reishi actually can grow more than two limbs whenever he doesn't look for being able to finish so many tasks in limited time. Being curious, he loudly speaks up his mind, asking it directly.

Reishi's violet eyes widen in surprise, but afterward his expression softens and he laughs in a polite manner. "I'm simply with well-organized mind and I am a man of routine, Suoh Mikoto." He replies slowly as if talking to a young child. "Totally contradictory to you, I believe."

Mikoto makes a grunting noise to the pillow to show his displeasure at the unintentional chiding. Reishi could not stop the smile in his face. Thanks to Mikoto, the time is definitely ticking down, but he believes that he still has little time spared to chat and make it to Scepter 4 HQ in time. "Still it surprises me that you can wake me up today. How did you do it?"

The red-haired king does not even move a muscle, ignoring the Blue King entirely. Reishi can only guess that Mikoto might be sulking for trivial reason, or maybe he really wants to sleep already. It is just a simple question and fundamentally, it is not quite important matter to get the answer. But the blue-head dislikes a vague answer and unanswered curiosity, though everything about Mikoto is usually ambiguous for him so far. He keeps prodding on Mikoto's side, leaning his weight on Mikoto's back deliberately as he resiliently persuades the man under him. "Mikoto, you will not sleep anytime soon if you don't answer me."

A minute passes in a tense atmosphere until Mikoto decides that Reishi's weight on him suffocates him painfully. He grumbles indistinctly with his voice muffled by the pillow before he abruptly whirls around on the bed and as a consequence, almost hurls Reishi to the floor. As he anticipates, the swordsman is quick with his impulse that he spontaneously leans back with safe distance between them, putting his hands in front of him with a hearty laugh. Now that Mikoto has supported his weight with his arm on the pillow, he defiantly confronts the mischievous smiling man in front of him. "You're annoying. I keep watching the time when you sleep. Now, just go and let me sleep."

Reishi looks quite surprised at first with a blank stare, before his expression varies from blushing scarlet, into timid delight, then apparent admiration. Sometimes, Mikoto surprises him with the way he shows love and affection without using empty, flattery words and it reminds him all over again why HOMRA members are too attached to this man.

On the other hand, Mikoto is intrigued on why Reishi seems to be quite contented by his small gesture. From his point of view, what he has been doing since early morning is nothing praise-worthy as he simply stares at his resting husband and lets him getting fleeting sleep as much as possible before Reishi has to start the new day. After all, last night the Captain was enforced to stay late at work that he deserves extra time to rest. If anything, Mikoto should be glad that the latter does not narrow his violet eyes and give him dirty look for staring or behaving like a creepy stalker. But Mikoto absolutely will not decline being rewarded with Reishi's appreciation since he loves seeing that occasional smile.

Reishi leans down until their foreheads nearly bump each other and they could feel the tickling hot breathes. None of them moves any further; they just lock their eyes on each other, letting the moment pass quietly until Reishi decides to break the silence and makes his cue to leave. "Thank you." He cradles Mikoto's cheeks with his hands and tilts his head a little to kiss him passionately before he leans back licking his lips with a pair of glinting violet eyes.

Mikoto groans at the sudden loss of contact. However, before he can even paw on Reishi out of temptation, the man is as quick as a flash to dash out of the bed, grabs his PDA and yells as he strides to the front door. "Let's have a date tonight. Don't be late. I'll call you later."

When he hears the door slammed, and he is left alone sitting on the bed, Mikoto buries his face to his knees with a sigh and scratches the back of his neck. He contemplates rummaging the pocket of his jacket and light up the cigarette, to fill his lungs with addictive nicotine and spends idle time sprawling on the bed until he has to leave to HOMRA. However, he in the end decides to catch up with sleep instead, hoping that it will help him to pass time quicker without feeling giddy and impatient all day until Reishi returns from work and fulfills his promise.

Mikoto makes a mental note to ensure that nothing will require an emergency call from Scepter 4 and demand Reishi's full attention for the whole day or else he will delightedly give painful, prolonged death for whoever dares to steal his date away from him. He grabs for the blanket and buries his head on the soft pillow, wishing that the moment will fly faster for the rest of the day until evening comes. 

-END-

* * *

As much as I'm tempted to make another Wonderland!AU, I really like normal life setting, hahaha~ Simple and cheesy, right?

**Viviane1993**: Thanks! I'm glad you love the wonderland AU though they are still OOC~! Umm...btw...Would you mind to comment in simple English? XD Though I'm so happy with your reviews, I have to use dictionary to understand some of your words...*sobs* Yes, English is my second language, so please spare me the torture...T_T *sobbing in the corner* and btw, yeah, I will try to update Hourglass ASAP. Hohoho~ Thanks, darling! *glomps*

**Maizy**: Do I succeed in tempting you to write Wonderland!AU fic too? *smirks* Hahaha, Reishi doesn't need us to console him. Mad Hatter always has Alice to console him, instead of Red Queen/King. LOL, I think in the original Alice, Mad Hatter and Red Queen actually hate each other to the core, don't they?

**Nessie**: Sorry hun, for keeping your name short. But I love your name short. XD Anyway, yeah! I would love to read more AU fics too, especially MikoRei. I'm kinda hoping that more writers will be tempted to write this pairing~

**Kiki**: What, first time!? What should I do to make you fangirling more!? After all, we, fangirls, can only live by keep fangirling! *hugs* Let's go together to join the wagon of MikoRei fangirls~ *got smacked by common sense* Sorry...don't mean to scare you...XDD


	4. In sickness and in health

Disclaimer: K anime is not mine, not ever. T_T

Note: Same AU where Blue and Red kings are married and there is no Colorless King to be their third wheel. :D

* * *

"Mikoto, what are you doing?" Reishi is on his way to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water while putting on his hip-length black coat before he stops immediately at the sight of Mikoto lying on the couch without care of the world, taking a light nap. "You said you want us to go to HOMRA today. We should be going now; it's going to rain again."

Ever since they get married, he promises the Saturday to be their together time outside the house and they take turn to decide where they are going. Last week he has dragged the unfortunate man to aquarium, and the red-haired king spends time mostly staring at Reishi instead of those sophisticated fish, barefacedly admitting that he is uninterested and prefers to watch him studying the fish instead. But no matter, at least they still spend time together that Reishi even sets his PDA in silent mode during these occasions.

Getting no reply, Reishi crosses to the living room to wake his husband up. "Mikoto, let's go now. It's going to rain and I hate getting wet." He leans forward the couch to peer at the sleeping figure that suddenly opens his amber eyes, fully alert and surprises him. "What…if you're not asleep, you should get ready to leave."

Instead of shooting up from the couch, Mikoto stretches his arms and slithers to the back of Reishi's neck and waist, tugging him down fiercely to make his husband land on top of him awkwardly. Reishi nearly bites his tongue as he yelps in surprise and writhes a bit when he lies on top of MIkoto, but the red head tightens his embrace, and snuggles against his soft, blue strands, exhaling with a comfortable sigh.

Reishi can feel the blush creeping up to his ears and mutters inaudibly as he hides his scarlet face on the crook of MIkoto's throat. The Red King slides his hand under the white v-neck shirt to trail the ivory skin on Reishi's back and draw circles to elicit a contented sigh from Reishi's lips. Mikoto purposely licks his husband's sensitive ear and whispers seductively with a smirk, "Let's just stay like this today." As he expects, the latter is speechless and blushes prettily while Reishi attempts to obscure his embarrassment by fixing his eyeglasses.

"Mikoto, we are going to HOMRA. Today." Reishi gasps sharply when Mikoto nibbles on his ear lobe and his resolve to leave the house falters rapidly.

"No." The red-haired solemnly answers while wearing a dark frown as if his favorite necklace has just disappeared. Being curious with everything, especially the man in front of him, Reishi cannot resist the urge not to question him, "Why not?"

"No reason. Just need some rest." The crimson-haired king smoothly replies back, and anyone except for Kusanagi and Anna and him would fall for his lie. Nevertheless, even if he confronts Mikoto, he will not speak the truth, unless he wants to. Reishi decides to play by his rule and follow as he retorts with skeptical look. "Mikoto, you have been napping all day, you don't need any more rest."

Mikoto glares back at him as he tugs those cobalt bangs behind Reishi's ears almost too affectionately to touch his forehead. "Stupid, I don't know whether you are ignoring it or acting tough, but you are burning up."

The Blue King's stance is instantly defensive and his muscles tense. "…You're just imagining it."

Mikoto furrows his eyebrows; completely perplexed. He does not anticipate for Reishi to deny his fever or even hide it when it is too obvious from his skin temperature. He can feel anomalous heat emanating from Reishi since in the morning. Usually his blue-haired lover's skin feels cool and comfortable against his, but not today. He even hears Reishi occasionally sniffs and suppresses coughs ever since he wakes up looking miserable. Mikoto sighs loudly, pinching his forehead, "Reishi, stop being difficult. We are NOT going anywhere today."

"I told you I'm fine! Stop making a fuss and get up now." The Blue King leans back and sits on MIkoto's stomach, crossing his arms in front of his chest with irritated look.

Mikoto glowers back at for a moment before he crawls out of the couch without a sound, which as consequence; Reishi also has to move aside to let Mikoto leave his comfortable seat. The Blue King abruptly grabs for Mikoto's wrist and whirls around on his feet as he is about to stroll to the front door, dragging the latter. However, dizziness strikes him with the sudden move and Reishi wobbles back, accidentally leaning against Mikoto, who swiftly holds him steady with his hands. A shiver runs along his back, as he could feel the intent scarlet glare at his head. Reishi turns his head back, sensing that he should offer an explanation quick to Mikoto before the red-headed king is able to give him an 'I-told-you-so' look. Nevertheless, the moment of explanation never comes.

Mikoto immediately grips his waist and scoops him up over his shoulder brashly. He expects retaliation from Reishi's side, but to his surprise the latter remains still. The impulsive motion gives Reishi a violent nausea and ringing echoes in his ears that he uses all his willpower fighting the urge to puke on Mikoto's clothes, instead of resisting Mikoto. The Red King realizes that his husband is obviously too unwell to complain, so he walks in hurried pace to the bathroom, barely able to keep Reishi steady. He does not mind if the latter vomits at his favorite shirt, but Mikoto can read easily that being such a stubborn man, Reishi will probably muster everything he could not to cause trouble for other because of him despite the hellish ride and every second he wastes means extra second of torture for Reishi.

He kicks the bathroom door ferociously and it slams against the wall in a loud bang and he could hear a strangled noise from behind him. Mikoto is bewildered, wondering if he hurts Reishi unintentionally by his brash move, before he rolls his eyes in comprehension after two seconds and grumbles, "You're sick and you're worried about the door? Ridiculous." As a response of his insult, Mikoto feels a weak thump on his back, probably Reishi retaliating, but it is so pathetic he barely feels any pain from it and the crimson-haired man snickers.

Mikoto pulls his husband down, helps him slowly to kneel beside the closet and removes his eyeglasses. Reishi's face is as pale as their bed sheet and he is sweating profusely with perpetual shivering from nasty fight against his nausea. The red-haired king scowls as Reishi is still struggling against his urge to puke by leaning his forehead on his arms which rest on the closet seat and taking deep, painful breaths. "Stop acting cool, you will feel better if you let it out."

Reishi obstinately shakes his head a little and pants heavily. The sight is almost too painful for Mikoto to watch, and his Blue King does not make the situation any better. "Reishi, stop resisting already." As if to show his impatience, he deliberately gives strong pats on Reishi's back and earns him a murderous glare. However, to Mikoto's satisfaction, the latter finally cannot hold back and throw up his morning breakfast to the closet with a pitiful groan, and Mikoto dutifully keeps Reishi's bangs out of the way while his husband drains everything from his stomach.

When nothing remains to throw up, Reishi pulls back and sweeps his lips with the back of his hand while Mikoto quickly flushes the closet and grabs the nearby toilet papers and hands them to the latter. Reishi takes them appreciatively and cleans his mouth with an extorted sigh. Mikoto knows that this is actually a horrible situation to find his lover attractive and if he speaks up his mind, the other man probably gives him this wary look as if he has grown the another head. Nevertheless, the blue-haired man in front of him is completely disheveled and his blood-shot violet eyes are shining and glazed with tears, and his parted lips are crimson from being rubbed callously. His tears and sweat fall down leisurely to his chin and his collarbone, probably trailing down to his lower back. A frown is apparent on his flushing scarlet face, completely distressed and vulnerable, almost similar to the expression Reishi wears when he is reaching his climax. The latter can feel the obvious stare though that those amethyst orbs lift up and stare back innocently with a tilt of his head. "What?" He hoarsely asks.

Mikoto clams up before his mind shouts things that he will regret later. He kneels beside Reishi instead to rub his back slowly to ease his distress. The Blue King is baffled at his ineptly caring husband and chuckles a little for his effort to comfort. He really cannot imagine Mikoto being good at soothing people but apparently he is mistaken. With a weak, forced smile, Reishi leans his forehead against Mikoto's shoulder, "Thanks. Sorry for the trouble."

The Red King makes an affirmative sound before he reaches for Reishi's left hand and rolls the wedding ring on slim, fourth finger as he hums quietly, "In sickness and in health, right?"

Reishi exhales with a hollow look, "Except for the fact that when we took the oath, I did not consider being sick includes a mere cold."

"Don't be stupid. Even a King can get sick…especially if you have to live your life." Mikoto humorously teases as he hooks his arms under Reishi's armpits and pulls him up to make them stand.

The Blue King sways a little, but he stands much steadier compared to before and slowly walks to wash basin to rinse his mouth. "Touché." He turns the tap off after splashing some water on his face to brush away the sweat that makes his skin uncomfortably clammy and dries his face with a towel.

"I'm not the one who stays up all night just because of some strain hackers to military security system, and overworks himself afterward, and gets himself wet because of the rain despite taking a cab and sleeps with dripping hairs, naked." Mikoto argues as he roughly scoops up Reishi into bridal style and the latter instinctively loops his arms around Mikoto's neck to keep him balanced.

"Spare me." The blue-haired man scowls and rests his head on Mikoto's shoulder, feeling comfortable with the light rocking as they move to the bedroom. "I had to get off the cab in the midst of rain to walk because the traffic was terrible due to a car accident and it was almost 7 pm. I promised you to return before that time."

Mikoto wrinkles his nose, looking discontented. "I don't need you coming home on time at the risk for accidents or getting sick."

"I don't calculate the possibility of being sick. The last time I caught a cold was when I was still in middle school and I had to take care of whole sick family members." Reishi remarks back defiantly.

Mikoto shrugs and puts Reishi down on the bed once they are beside it. The Blue King scoots over to his side of bed with a relief sigh and lies on his back, still staring at his lover. Mikoto follows him, dipping down on the bed and shifts beside him to stroke his navy-colored strands gently with his fingers, lulling Reishi off. "Next time, you should listen to me when I told you to sleep, instead of coaxing me to have sex with you."

Reishi snorts and grimaces at Mikoto's crudeness. "Well, it was cold and your body temperature was just ideal. As I recall, you don't even mind last night."

"Of course not. Can't exactly refuse such invitation, can I?" Mikoto smirks and leans down to kiss on feverish forehead before he pulls back and swings his legs out of the bed. "I'll get you some water." Reishi almost feels whining when Mikoto's warmth left the bed, but a wave of exhaustion crashes at him and by the time Mikoto returns with a cold pack compression, he has drowned into a deep slumber.

* * *

"Too bad, I thought I could keep you here longer. You recover too fast." Mikoto smirks groggily at his waking husband in his arm, who already stretches his legs on the bed with healthy color on his face. A pair of violet eyes turns to look at him as Reishi rolls and lies on his stomach and puts his chin on his hand, staring at drowsy Mikoto. "Well, I have a great nurse around and the weather definitely improves."

The morning golden light starts to infiltrate the bedroom through the closed curtain and the distant chirping bird becomes the background noise inside the room. Mikoto can tell that a new day has come, but it is still quite early to wake up on holiday. The city is still eerily silent as if it is vacant of its habitants.

Mikoto tugs the blue-haired man close to his embrace and closes his eyes to drift back to sleep. "It's Sunday, get back to sleep."

Reishi reached out for Mikoto's messy bangs and gently caresses his soft crimson mane, knowing that the latter found it pleasing to be petted. "Let's go to HOMRA today. I feel quite better and I don't want to break our agreement after dragging you to aquarium last week." _His Clansmen must be disappointed too if he does not come_, Reishi thinks.

A pair of amber eyes cracks open and glowers with annoyance as Mikoto inaudibly pays him a light kiss on the lips and tighter embrace before he goes back to sleep, ignoring his husband's proposal. But Reishi does not give up easily. This time he tugs on Mikoto's front bangs, persistently until the latter cannot stand the interference from his sleep. Mikoto moans as he grabs a pillow to thrust it on top of Reishi's head. "Ugh, just get some sleep, you lark. How can you be so annoying when you have just recovered?"

Reishi grumbles, but he decides to relent, considering that Mikoto is probably tired of staying up to nurse him yesterday. "Fine. Don't blame me if your friends get mad at you."

There is a soft, indistinct murmur that sounds like 'whatever' before Reishi follows the latter back to dreamless sleep with a smile tugging in his lips, dreaming the accord of sapphire and vermillion colors.


	5. My wish is your wish

Note: Crossposted in AO3. AU!Fate/Zero or Fate/Stay Night. A fan artist made a fanart with K anime crossing over with Fate/Stay Night. Lol, ever since I saw it, I wanted to write a fanfic for it. I would say that I don't feel anything for Fate/Stay Night, but I'm a hardcore fan for Fate/Zero, hahaha. I'm suck at summary. So if anyone is wondering what this anime is about (though I think most otaku would have watched Fate/Stay Night), I would have to ask you to go to uncle google.

Warning: boyxboy love obviously, but with quite age gap. I hope no one thinks that I'm doing pedophile fic...=_= because I don't support it at all.

In case no one notices, recently I update this fic on AO3 since that site is less troublesome for me. Yeah, the website ban in my country is still around. No worries, I will still post new chapters in ffnet...after some time. :p

* * *

"What is actually your wish?"

The violet eyes flashed as they turned to stare at the golden ones with hidden bitterness. The Holy Spirit sheathed his gleaming saber elegantly and whirled around to face his master, his summoner. His blue colored uniform rustled as it swayed gently with his movement while his navy-colored boots made a clear, loud sound as he stepped forward toward the man in front of him.

"It's not your business, isn't it?" Munakata tilted his head and smiled pretentiously that Mikoto could hear the tone of sarcasm in it. "Before you ask for mine, shouldn't you tell me first yours?"

Mikoto blatantly stared at the refined-looking spirit and how beautiful his blue strands gleamed under the silver glow of the soft moonlight through the shattered multicolor glass window of the church.

* * *

It was just two weeks ago since he was involved in the war for Holy Grail as one of the recognized magus. As a proof of his qualification as one of the players of the deadly game, a black tattoo in the form like swirling flame was engraved at the back of his hand. As the sole heir of Suoh lineage, he actually did not care for the status he would gain with the victory of War of Holy Grail. The only thing he had eyes upon was the wish that would be granted with his bloody victory.

He was the prodigy of the magus Suoh family; the best ever in the history, or at least that was what they told him. Countless hours of his youth were spent on trainings of magic and martial arts. He did not hate the trainings, but he despised the philosophy and values that were forcefully drilled into his mind. Suoh group was desperate to be well-recognized as the best magus lineage and he did not want to have any part in such crazed obsession. Therefore, when he entered his adolescent, he left his old-fashioned house and lived on his own ever since, cutting his ties from the family. To fuel his family wrath, he even took the second-best magus princess from distant line of Suoh family, Anna with him to desert the world of magic. Ever since he was young, the silver-haired princess always clung to him, while silently enduring the harsh trainings without ever complaining to him until he found out the pain she had to bear.

When the news of War of Holy Grail reached his ears, he paid no heed toward it. After all, the only reason for him to abandon his blood relatives was to steer clear from the bloody war and he would never allow them to use Anna for their selfish desire. At first, he rejected flatly the offer to be one of the contestants, ignoring the constant pleas and threats from his family.

Everything changed ever since a nightmare constantly plagued his dream every night. The scene rewound every time like a broken record that he could even see it during his wake. Every single day, he found himself standing in the middle of white-colored vast field, surrounded by the pine forest while the sky was tainted in the color of ashes with the snowflakes falling quietly. In front of him, a beautiful stranger stood before him with pained, contorted expression, as if he was trying to dam his tears. While he could not recognize the man, that blue-haired stranger felt so familiar to his heart that he could sense the dull pain in his heart, as if calling for the latter to get close to his embrace.

The man in uniform opened his mouth, speaking to him, but Mikoto could not hear any single word leaving out through those rosy lips. The latter sighed and a soft mist formed, fogging his glasses before he lunged forward toward Mikoto with a saber in his hands. The next second, Mikoto was bewildered when he felt the stabbing pain on his chest and the comfortable body weight against him. He did not understand why this man had to kill him, but somehow Mikoto could not feel hatred welling inside him for what the latter had done to him. To his bafflement, he even instinctively leaned against the violet-eyed man as if he was conceding everything for this person although the blood dripped out from his mouth.

Mikoto could feel his energy seeping away from his body as well as his consciousness. However, before he faded out, he glanced to the stoic-faced stranger. For the whole nightmare, it was the only moment when he could hear the sound of the howling of winter breeze, rustling pine leaves and the heartbreaking voice. "What am I to you?"

He felt as if he needed to answer that question no matter what, but time would not allow him. Before even a word could escape his lips, the darkness fully consumed him and he would wake up in his bed, sweating profusely as if he had just run from unseen fiend.

After a whole month of the same dream, he decided to pursue the meaning of the nightmare. He would honestly admit that he was curious what was behind the dream that felt so surreal to him. If anything, he also wanted to get rid the crushing feeling he always bore when his eyes snapped open on daybreak. It felt like a sin that you could not wash as long as you don't find the source of it. However, his efforts were futile. Endless researches led to nothing and that was when he heard about the Holy Grail that could fulfill any wish.

It was not difficult to get a favor from his family. Just a word that he wanted to get the grail and he volunteered to take a part on the battle game, the Holy Grail recognized him instantly and bestowed him with the tattoo despite his young age. His family accommodated him so willingly that they even prepared an ancient saber of unknown heroes for him for summoning ritual.

Mikoto still remembered like it was yesterday, the night of summoning ritual. The saber with the golden tilt gleamed under the moonlight as he laid it on the altar of a small, deserted church, just as how his relatives has depicted it for him the steps of ritual. Anna sat on one of the dusty long benches behind him, watching closely at the ritual as Mikoto muttered the summoning rite and the crimson light swirled under his feet and formed the circle of magic. When he finished his line, a sudden surge of vermillion ray engulfed him and soared to the sky like a red pillar.

The blinding radiance eventually ceased down and before he could adjust his eyes to the darkness that once again filled the chamber, a clear baritone voice rang like a cathedral bell, so familiar that it hurt. "Are you my master?"

His golden eyes were widened in surprise once his orbs landed on the violet ones that constantly haunted his nights as the mist, the aftereffect of his magic ritual faded away. For a fleeting second, he noticed a surprise behind those amethyst eyes, but it vanished as quickly as an illusion. The man that stood before him was exactly the one that he had seen in his nightmares and it made him wonder if that moment was the continuation of his dream. The blue-colored hair, the black spectacles framing the violet orbs, the fair skin and the navy-colored fabric that enveloped the tall figure matched perfectly to the man in his vision. Mikoto was in trance that he completely ignored to answer the latter.

However, the man in his blue-clad uniform did not wait for his reply and leisurely walked down the aisle toward him to reach out for his cheeks once he had latched his saber on his waist. His hands felt warm and genuine against his skin that Mikoto wished that it was not a dream.

Nevertheless, when Mikoto thought he would not mind spending more sweet time with this spirit, the man in front of him pinched his cheeks rather cruelly until they were red and sore. "You are too young for this battle, but I have no choice since the contract is already done. Now, I hope you will get a hold of yourself. We will have a difficult war coming ahead, after all."

Mikoto abruptly grabbed on the spirit's wrists and effectively gained a full attention from the fair-looking man as he spontaneously asked, "Have we met before?"

He could see a storm waged inside those violet ones before the spirit intentionally averted his sight and solemnly replied, "I don't recognize you. Maybe you have read about me in the history book."

Mikoto could see the obvious lie but he decided not to push his luck. Instead, he tugged the wrist hard and pulled the latter close until their forehead bumped each other. "What's your name?" The spirit glared at him with obvious irritation as he rubbed his forehead, "Saber."

The crimson-haired magus frowned at the answer and glowered back, "I don't ask for your class. I'm asking for your name."

"That's all you need to know." The spirit grudgingly said and started to walk away to reach the front grand door of the church. "We are just partnered to get our wishes granted."

"If you want to gain victory, I have to know your name, so to know your history and your strength before we could formulate a strategy."

Mikoto knew that he was simply bluffing since he was not exactly a man of tactic, but he could not contain his curiosity to know about the spirit he had just summoned. The spirit seemed to be quite intelligent and perceptive as well, that he could see a flash of doubt inside those violet ones, and the silence hang between them awkwardly, but he would not back down.

The spirit gave out a suffering sigh and rested his eyes on golden ones, "Munakata Reishi."

He never heard the name, even in the history that he had despised and never bothered to learn, yet it felt familiar in his tongue that he could spell it without any difficulty. "My name is Suoh Mikoto." He averted his eyes to the young magus that had stood behind him and tugged on his sleeve quietly as her ruby eyes were fixated on the magnificent Holy Spirit, "And this is Anna, my cousin."

Munakata gave a curt nod with a little smile at the princess that rewarded him an equal shy smile before he glanced up back to his young master.

"So Reishi, your class is Saber?"

"Munakata." The spirit quickly snapped with annoyance as he corrected, "We have just acquainted, Suoh."

Mikoto shrugged carelessly and defiantly smirked back at his partner. "I don't care if you call me Mikoto. I will call you in however I see fit." As if to emphasize his statement, Mikoto slowly repeated in a low voice. "Reishi."

He stared daringly at the fuming spirit, taking a note of the twitching hands on Reishi's both sides, as if itching to reach out for his saber and slay down his own master. However, eventually the blue-haired man whirled around indignantly and stomped away to the exit as he irately exclaimed, "Suit yourself."

Such response brought a smirk onto Mikoto's lips. This man was indeed as he imagined, entertaining and challenging.

* * *

"I want to know you. That's my wish."

Munakata stopped in the middle track as he was treading his path on the short flight of stairs to the altar where he first met Mikoto of this era.

Mikoto noticed the tensing back and shoulders as the man in front of him abruptly halted at his answer. When he obtained the name of his partner, for once in his life, he rummaged books and the internet to find anything about Munakata Reishi in the history record like an obsessed admirer. Although he had read a bibliography of this past spirit, Mikoto still felt as if he had not even uncovered the superficial layer of this man. All he had gathered about him was simply that Munakata Reishi was once a Captain of Scepter 4, one of the chosen kings on the era of Dresden Slate before the Slate was one day being abolished by unknown force. He was known as the savior as he heroically slain the evil red king that almost murdered more than two hundreds student of an academy and wiped a part of Japan from the map along with him.

His partner slowly turned around with a twisted smile and glanced down at him from top of the stairs. "I don't think you even need the Holy Grail for that wish. I know that you have searched my past from literatures."

Mikoto felt like bewitched that he unconsciously stepped up the stairs while his eyes remained still on Reishi. "All I know is that you are once a king that has saved the world from your fellow evil red king."

To his surprise, the spirit snapped his head and watched at Mikoto with pure fury as he seethed, "You know nothing, don't speak ill of him."

Mikoto lowered his gaze and stared at the dusty floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the whole building. The atmosphere felt as if it had dropped several degrees and the silence was unbearable. Before he could utter an apology out of guilt, Reishi had stepped down until they were just separated away by one level of stair with hollow look. "I'm sorry. You simply speak what is written in the book. Of course there is no way you would know the truth."

"Then tell me the truth. Who is he to you?" Mikoto held his breath as he asked. However, he did not expect the sorrow to be plastered on the handsome feature.

"I wonder about it too." Reishi blurted out bitterly, before he hastily put on his expressionless mask when he felt the sympathy from certain master. "He was once a friend. But he was given a power that was hard to contain, and in the end that power consumed him. I was only there to put him out of his misery."

Reishi did not expect the next second, when his master swiftly pulled him into his embrace by yanking his wrists and locked him in the place with the arms encircled tightly around the slender waist. A soft blush bloomed to his cheeks and the chilling air suddenly felt so hot like burning inferno. The spirit half-heartedly fought the squeeze, but the creeping warmth into his cold vessel slowly melted his will. Hesitantly he lifted his arms and hugs his master awkwardly as he warily called, "Suoh?" The position was rather uncomfortable for him since their height difference forced him to bend over acutely, but he did not speak up his discomfort as he was being mindful of the situation.

"I saw you in my dream, before our first meeting." The crimson-haired master only tightened his embrace, suffocating the latter as he felt Reishi flinching. "The same dream every day that I can't ignore it anymore. The snow field, the pine forest, the gray sky and you. In my dream, I saw you killing me. If it is a premonition, I would want to know what kind of person you are."

He finally let go his partner from his embrace but he kept him within arm-length distance as his hands remained on Reishi's tense shoulders, preventing the latter from fleeing. Nevertheless, he did not anticipate the trickling tears falling down from the shining amethysts as a light of recognition shone on them, dripping down to the stone floor.

"It is not premonition." Reishi bitterly snickered under his breath, almost inaudible. "It's just our crossing roads are a bad comedy as the fate taunts."

"What?"

"Then as I promise, I'll tell you my wish." Reishi wiped away his tears and smiled sardonically. "I will change the past. This time, I will save the red king, no matter what."

Mikoto clenched his fist on his wrenched heart. Somehow even though the answer should not involve him, the pain was there. "Why would you go to that extent for a friend? What if it means your death? Who will save the world? Who will save the Red King from his power?"

"Someone would." Reishi pushed away Mikoto and walked toward the altar to take a seat on top of it. The glow of silver light fell like an angelic halo on his head. "For him, anyone would do."

"In that case, forget about him." Mikoto gave out a low growl and he strode briskly toward the spirit before he encircled his arms around Reishi's collar neck and pulled him once again into his embrace. "He is unworthy. Just stay here."

Reishi roughly pushed him away, but before Mikoto could protest, the latter had leapt forward and pounced on his master until Mikoto hit the back of his head against the floor. However, he did not even have enough time to register what had happened when suddenly the spirit on top of him took a full fist of his white shirt and viciously slammed his lips against Mikoto's. His yelp was muffled by the messy kiss, but it did not take him long before Mikoto returned the fervor and coaxed the latter into a deeper kiss by nipping on Reishi's lower lip and prodding with his tongue. Reishi frowned a bit at the unexpected feedback, but he obliged willingly.

After a flight of seconds that felt like eternity as they stole each other's breath away, Reishi hastily pulled back and climbed off Mikoto to make some distance between them. Mikoto stared at him with a lustful glaze on his eyes, observing the latter like a predator on his prey as his upper body rose from the floor, supported by his arms, "What was that?"

"I found it hilarious when you said that." Reishi softly chuckled, and the sight only tempted Mikoto further to allow his hormones to take control over him. "If he is unworthy, then so are you."

Mikoto was bewildered and he froze on the spot, "What…?"

The same shade of sorrow returned to those violet eyes, but the weak smile did not falter. "Your dream is the fragment of that past, Suoh, the last moment of Red King. Your resemblance to him is too extreme to ignore that I can't think about anything else but you are as his reincarnation."

"Are you telling me that I am…the Red King?" Mikoto trailed off anxiously.

"Was…It will be better if you think that you are not related to him."

"Then, was that kiss for him or me?" A dark jealousy was casted on his adolescent face. He knew that it was ridiculous to feel like this toward his possibly past-life since they might be one and the same, but he could not bear the thought that he was only a substitute for the long gone king for Reishi.

The Spirit laughed softly to his hand and shrugged, "It's up to you how you take it."

Mikoto shot up and pinned the blue-haired king down to the nearby altar with his hands clasped on the latter's. He took a moment to watch the beautiful sight and burn it into his mind. The sapphire strands were sprawled on the stone altar like a corona framing the melancholic face. The violet eyes glimmered under the flicker of moon light as they stared back at him without reservation. It felt like déjà vu, even though this was the first time for him for ever sharing such intimate moment with Reishi, there was the nagging feeling like he had seen him like this hundred times over and he knew what he should do.

"Suoh…" Reishi hesitantly started, but his words vanished from his mind when Mikoto lowered his head and gently kissed him while he released one of Reishi's hands to take off the obstructing spectacles and place it beside them.

"Call my name, Reishi." He whispered as he boldly commanded the older man.

"Never."

A wrinkle appeared in between of Mikoto's creased forehead as he frowned, "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to have anything more than this with you. We don't have a future, even now." Reishi turned his head to the side to avoid the piercing gaze.

"I don't understand."

"When the war is over, regardless we come victorious or not, I don't belong in this world. I will return to the Spirit World, and if the Holy Grail accepts my wish, I probably won't be here."

"I don't want…," Mikoto tried to argue, but Reishi effectively cut him as he put his forefinger on Mikoto's lips.

"My vessel is only temporary given by Holy Grail during the war. What we want doesn't change the fact that my existence doesn't belong here." The Spirit reached out to cup Mikoto's cheeks affectionately with a hint of anxiety behind his eyes. "You should find your happiness in this world this time. As long as you live, I feel like I can be saved from my guilt, even a little."

"No." Mikoto defiantly answered back and grabbed Reishi's wrists, away from his cheeks. "We will be victorious. My wish is to bind you here with me."

Reishi widened his eyes in surprise and stared up at the fiery golden ones which shone with unbreakable resolve. A part of him wanted to have the same wish and started a new leaf with this Mikoto, who would frankly confess to him without feeling remorse. Back then, their positions as Kings stopped them from getting together. But in here, he would have no necessity to mind his duty.

Nevertheless, if he did wish for that, it felt like he was truly abandoning the past Mikoto to pursue the current happiness and it seemed unacceptable.

Mikoto bit the inner wall of his cheek as he perceived the uncertainty inside wavering violets. It was probably too hasty of him to ask the latter to get over the past love. He had no intention to give up, even if he had just met this man for two weeks; probably insignificant compared to the time that Reishi had shared with the red king. In addition, he might be too immature and inexperienced than the king that Reishi had loved for a while to even suit the older king, but his juvenile mind would not accept loss without a fight. Time could not measure the amount or put the value of his feeling. He would steal this Spirit from the old him, and so he said, "I don't care if you still think about him or if you still wish to save him. Regardless your wish is, I will make you stay, since I don't think you are against the idea either."

However, Reishi only smiled genuinely that made his heart fluttered, "I will bring victory to you and make your wish to come true."

The gray, misty cloud blanketed the moon and the silver ray vanished, leaving the hall to be casted in the darkness, as if to veil the presence of star-crossed lovers.

* * *

The ending of the war was nigh.

The black smoke soared high to the darkest starless night sky as the church was set ablaze in vermillion color of flame. In the midst of sea flame, and the golden light that was like a vertical pillar that supported the sky, Munakata stood with the blood stains and several scrapes and wounds all over his body, but his eyes spoke the volume of his anguish when there was nothing inside but emptiness and infinite acceptance. When he noticed the sound of brash footsteps that was so familiar to his ears from behind him, he turned his head and smiled tiredly.

"Suoh…" He whispers weakly, although his figure still appeared as regal as an ancient king.

The crimson-haired magician bit his lip as he saw the tragic sight in front of him. He did not wish to see Munakata to be sad or hurtful, but as it turned out, the Grail War was a lunacy game and the prize they had pursued ended up as nothing but an illusion. Holy Grail was nothing but a cup with magnificent amount of prana, and in order to activate its power, it needed the sacrifice of all Servants' souls to unlock the ritual and it was not truly an absolute wish-granting device. The Holy Grail simply obeyed the command of the victor, and that was all. It might be able to grant the wishes of masters greedy of gold and power, but not what he desired.

Even with the whole prana of the world, the holy cup would still not be able to grant what he had wished for; what he had fought for.

An immense understanding was visible on Munakata's feature as he tilted his head and calmly beamed at his master, "You know, if your wish has not changed, I don't think the Holy Grail can grant it."

Mikoto shook his head hard, fighting back the tears, "No. The prana it contains should be enough to give you a vessel in this era."

"Suoh, it can't. Even if it is, you have to sacrifice me. What you wish is something beyond this world, because I don't belong in this era."

"Are you giving up?" Mikoto bitterly seethed.

The serene smile never left the blue-haired spirit and it wrenched his heart more when Munakata shrugged. "_I'm accepting this_. It's a different thing. At least, now I know that you have a future. Although I can't save the you in previous life, I think it's enough to see you alive and well in this one."

"It's not!" The victor magus barked. Deep inside he understood that what he wanted was not feasible, but it did not mean that he could accept it. If he was truly the reincarnation of red king, that meant this encounter was a fate and a chance for them to be united and be anything that they could not. To see that glimmer of hope to be vanquished in front of his eyes after such a tiring war was cruel. They had gone this far, spilling the blood of other Servants and their own and yet all they received was just the truth of intricate lie?

Munakata sheathed his sword and tossed it away on the floor. It clanged loudly as it hit the burning ground, but none of the soul even cared. He pulled the master who was younger than him into his embrace and attempted to record the human warmth, the crimson mane softness in his fingers and the light in the amber orbs into his memory; every feature that he had missed terribly. He lowered his head and whispered to Mikoto's ear softly, "And since I'm something that is not real in this world, just forget about all these and find the real happiness, Suoh. I have no regret of meeting you."

"I refuse." Mikoto coldly said and on the next second, he grabbed a full fist the front of Munakata's uniform. "I will meet you on the next war, even if it takes another 60 years."

Munakata glowered at him as his violet eyes turned cold and sighed at the hard-headed man, "On which part you cannot understand the meaning of 'I'm accepting this'? It means, my name will nevermore in the list of Avalon to summon. No matter how hard you try, how long you wait, I will never again participate in the War of Holy Grail. I no longer lament what has happened in the past."

Mikoto hung low his head but his fists never left its dead grip on Munakata's uniform. "Why? Is this your payback?"

"What?"

"Back then, the red king left you behind. And now when I struggle to be with you, you run away."

Munakata bit the inner wall of his cheek and before Mikoto could even respond, the blue king had thrown a punch on his face with all his might. The magus was thrown to the floor and his hand instinctively ran to where he felt sore to rub it gently as he was sprawled helplessly on the stone floor. A trickle of blood dripped down to his chin as he cut his lips. "What are you doing?!"

"You deserve it. If you so refuse this situation, then pray tell, what do you propose? I'm all ears. Even if I sacrifice my soul to activate the Holy Grail, I won't be resurrected. It can't fulfill your wish either." Munakata stepped slowly toward his master with icy cold stare and with his last forceful step just a few inches away from Mikoto, his face was contorted into a sorrowful one. "Why do you have to make our encounter so sad and pitiful? I wish not to see your face stricken with anguish anymore."

"If that's your wish, stay here…Even without the Grail, I will support your vessel with my own prana." Mikoto swept away the trickling blood with the back of his hand carelessly.

"You will die, Suoh. Do you think it's a trivial amount of magic to allow my soul to manifest here?"

"I don't care!"

Munakata knelt before him until they were on same eye-level to slap both of his cheeks, too gentle for intention to hurt, too hard for a chiding. His eyes were tingling sharp like a suppressed anger. "Only once is enough to see you throwing away your life because of your grief. How many times do you want to drown me in despair until you are satisfied? I won't let you repeat your mistake."

"Rei-" Before he could finish his line, the ancient king lunged forward and pressed his lips against Mikoto. At first, it was a clumsy contact as their teeth bumped painfully, but the older king tilted his head and deepened their kiss and Mikoto fluently followed the pace. Munakata prodded a little with his tongue for entrance, before the younger enthusiastically obeyed and was equally eager to close the distance between them. His hands clenched tightly on the back of Munakata's uniform, grabbing it as if it was his lifeline. If his grip hurt the latter, the Hero Spirit did not show it.

When Munakata deliberately broke the kiss, he embraced his younger master and whispered to his ear. "Won't you indulge me for one last time?"

"What?" Mikoto tried to pull back to get a better look on his contracted spirit, but Munakata did not loosen his embrace and persistently keep him still.

The crimson-haired magus could hear the little inhales that Munakata took, as if preparing himself to face the most difficult hurdle. However, the next whispered words overwhelmed him as if the king had spoken to him as loud as the towed bell. The voice echoed so loudly in his soul that he wondered if he would ever forget this fleeting moment that was deeply craved in his memory.

"I love you. I probably should have said that long time ago, but my pride and sense of duty stopped me. In the end, I regretted it." Munakata clenched his fists around Mikoto's waist. He could feel the prana that had dwelled inside him bestowed by the Holy Grail as a participant of the war had escaped him. His time in this future was no more. As if to prove his feeling, from the corner of his eyes, his legs were in transparent light, slowly losing his form. But he had no glimpse of fear, only a sense of loneliness and tranquility.

"I know." The magus finally said quietly, "I'm sure he knows that too."

Mikoto could not help himself but feeling hollow as the golden light basked around his knight. The blue king leaned backward while keeping his hands gripping on Mikoto's sleeves as he gradually vanished into small sparkles of gold dust, soaring high to the sky with transparent bright smile. "I will find you in another life. It may take another millennium, but I promise you."

"So do I," Mikoto trailed weakly as the spirit in front of him completely disintegrated and left him alone in the ruin with dying flame as the rain dripped down to his cheeks, as if trying to wash away all his longing. His heart screamed in undeclared pain.

* * *

Years had passed since the last war of Grail. Ever since that day, he entirely deserted his status as a magus and continued to live as a normal human. Mikoto had graduated from school, where fate once again played as if his current life was just a refrain of his previous one with him to be united with Kusanagi and Totsuka again as best friends. They did not remember each other at first, but he felt some connection with them. As weird as their relationship might be, when he realized it, Mikoto found himself always together with those two and the friendship was formed.

On his last year in university, the memories of his life as Red King started to return and fill his dreams, just like premonition back then before the War of Holy Grail. However, they were not like a haunting nightmare, but like fragments of dearest memories of someone's life record. He was not even surprised when he realized that Anna was one of his precious acquaintances who also got reborn and reunited with him. Mikoto wondered if the returning memories were because he was reaching the age when Red King died, but the thought did not bother him one bit.

The only thought that occasionally filled his mind was if the fate thread would also connect him with a certain man with mesmerizing amethyst-colored eyes in this life.

But years passed rather quickly and he began to forget the promise, thinking that it would take another rebirth before it could be fulfilled. Seasons changed until the cold biting air was replaced by blossoming cherry petals.

It was Sunday noon and he was on holiday that Mikoto as usual hung out in Kusanagi's coffee shop. The lingering smell of coffee was so strong and relaxing that he took a nap in one of the empty tables by the glass window at the corner. Anna was out shopping with her friends as he slumbered in his private sanctuary, enjoying being basked under the warm sun light. Nevertheless his nap was short-lived as someone had hit his head with a menu book.

He was about to glare at his intruder when the familiar, soft voice with a hint of amusement that brought back thousand memories filled his ears and he froze. "I see that you still haven't changed your lifestyle at all, Suoh."

He slowly glanced up, pushing away the menu and the familiar ivory hand that obscured his view. A young man in his teen stood before him. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt under the neat black vest and a simple apron, the attire of this coffee shop waiter. He was holding back the menu book close to his chest with a smirk. Behind the black-framed spectacles, the sapphire blue eyes with the hues of violet twinkled with concealed joy. "I finally find you."

Mikoto was speechless for a moment, searching for the words that he had longed to say if he ever met Reishi. But when the time came, his mind was white clear. So he said the only thing that came across his mind. "Just how old are you?"

Reishi frowned and his smile turned sour, "So much for a heartfelt reunion, and that's the first thing you have to say to my face?"

"Not really, but I'm just wondering. You look…so young."

"From my point of view, you are old." Reishi sighed with their way too ordinary meeting. He had imagined several possible scenarios as he looked forward for this moment. But Mikoto had to ruin it in his style like usual. It was not as if he was disappointed because after all, it was totally Mikoto's character. Nevertheless, it would be understatement if he did not expect something more. "But no matter, I turn seventeen this year. Are you disappointed that I'm much younger than you are?"

The banter felt like in the old memories and without doubt, Mikoto felt the bubbling happiness inside. He grinned cheekily as he rested his chin on his hand, "Yes and no. Yes, because it will appear as if I'm molesting a kid and no, because I don't care anyway."

Reishi flushed a little at the statement before he coughed to hide his embarrassment. "So crude. That's rude to call me a kid."

"So are you working here? How come I've never seen you?"

The bell on the door suddenly chimed, notifying the owner that a new customer had entered the house. Reishi stole a glance toward the door and saw a new couple coming through the entrance. He looked torn in between to continue conversing with Suoh or began with his part-time work since the shop started to get busy. However, before he could utter an apology and leave Mikoto's table, the crimson-head man already grabbed his wrist tightly with a glare.

Reishi was about to make excuse to the ex-magus when suddenly a blond stood behind him and smiled nonchalantly. Today was actually his off-day but Totsuka had noticed their short interaction for a while as he lazed around by the counter and caught a hint that they had so many things to talk about that he decided to give a hand. "It's okay, I'll cover for you."

"But…"

"Don't worry about it!" The blond quickly seized Reishi's apron and menu book before he left them alone to approach the coming customers with his airy smile.

The silence lingered for a long time before Mikoto made a gesture for the latter to sit across the table and Reishi absentmindedly complied. "So?"

"So what?"

"Where have you been?" Mikoto crossed his arms, staring straight at the blue eyes without any hesitation.

In contrary, Reishi shifted his gaze uncomfortably, "I actually often see you here on my way back from school, taking a nap." He paused for a moment, observing Mikoto's reaction if he was going to yell at him from delaying this moment. But he only glared sharply, expecting answer soon, so Reishi continued with a deep sigh. "I always want to greet you, but then I would hesitate. Even back then, you don't have any memories of the previous life, unlike me. This is your new leaf. I am uncertain if it is the right decision to come into your life, since our encounter might disrupt your current happiness."

"You promise me that you will find me. I've waited for so long and it's just because you are fretting pointlessly?" Mikoto scowled with apparent frustration. It was not anything new if Reishi avoided him for years because he was considering unnecessary thoughts, but it still annoyed him that they wasted so many years they could have together just because of trivial matters.

"It's not pointless." Reishi abruptly interjected with a whispered snarl for Mikoto to take lightly of his concern. "At least I'm here now. I decide to work part-time here so I can easily find the momentum to speak to you. I've just got interviewed and accepted three days ago."

"If you have told me, I can simply arrange it with Izumo."

"Well, it will lose the essence of surprise, won't it?" Reishi grinned innocently.

Unexpected to him, Mikoto smiled genuinely as he took Reishi's hands in his. "Yeah. It's a pleasant surprise." A soft blush crept from his cheeks to his ears and they fell into stifling silence once again, staring at their clasping hands as if they were the most interesting object to see in the whole coffee shop.

"I actually get my memories as Red King back years ago." Mikoto started tentatively.

Reishi lifted his gaze to meet the fiery golden ones that never failed to enchant him and those orbs once again confounded him that he could not look away. "How?"

"Do you remember when I told you that I had a vision of the Red King's last moment during the War of Holy Grail?" A nod as an answer. "I start to have flashes of memories of past life like that."

"I hope you realize now that it was absolutely nasty to force me to kill you." The blue-haired student whispered haughtily as the shadow loomed over his adolescent face.

"Yeah. I think I died too young back then, so can we pick up from where we have left?" The hands enveloping his squeezed a little with a faint tremble. Reishi could perceive the slight unease of rejection from the latter that the gesture immediately brought a smile back to his lips.

"Then you should at least make an effort to convince and court me, don't you?" The new waiter smirked audaciously as he glanced up.

Mikoto did not answer but his features softened with a genuine smile. And it was enough for them.

* * *

Last note: In case anyone wonder the setting in this AU, Mikoto is 30 years old and Munakata is 17 when they meet again because 17 years have passed since separation (Mikoto was 13 years old when he joins the war)


End file.
